填空题 For most of human history, "business" was done one to one—people traded goods and services with each other individually, as families, or as small tribal groups.
1 They were farmers, tailors, laborers, soldiers. They exchanged their goods or services for everything else they needed. Regions started to specialize in a few types of goods and services and commenced regular trading with other regions. Societies created currency, which allowed people to sell their work for money and then use that money to buy the work of others. Urban areas grew and business practices expanded. Eventually, several tradespeople joined together to make one larger business enterprise—a company.
In the mid 16th century, the Muscovy Company had a monopoly on trade routes from England to Russia—the only way to ship things between England and Russia was to pay Muscovy. In 1555, it became the first joint-stock company. A joint-stock company is one in which investors give money to help a company expand operations. They then receive a portion of the profit that the company makes. The investors own stock in the company. Muscovy"s success inspired many imitators. Joint-stock companies soon started to multiply. 2